September 29, 2014

This is How I ZOOMA: Zooma Cape Cod 10K Recap

On Saturday morning I was up bright and early for the ZOOMA Cape Cod 10K. The best part about this race is that it started right in front of the hotel so getting up the morning of and getting to the start on time was super easy and not stressful at.all!

After fueling up with half a banana and a honey stinger waffle I headed out of our room to warm-up. I did a 2 mile jog along the first mile of the course to get an idea of how hilly it was. I did a few drills and strides in the parking lot and before I knew it they were escorting the 10K runners to our special starting line (the half marathon and 10K starting lines were different).

The only race picture that Henri snagged was of the start… I think I’ll keep him as a photographer. 😉The first part of the race had some gentle rolling hills and was along the water. I started off at 6:05 pace and I found myself with a pretty sizable lead only a mile into the race. At that point I made the decision to tempo it the rest of the race and just enjoy the beautiful course!

Just after mile 2 the course turned off of the road and onto a straight, flat bike path lined with trees. The lady riding on the lead bike and I got to chatting. I found out that she’s from my hometown and I even went to high school with her daughter – small world!

The course stayed on this bike path for 2.5 miles and we turned back towards the hotel and the finish. When I made the final turn towards the finish Henri was there cheering and everyone else that had turned out for their loved ones were very nice and cheered for me too. I crossed the finish line in first place in a time of 40:09!

At every mile marker my watch had the mile a little long and the course ended up being 6.44 miles (nearly a quarter mile longer than a 10K) so my average pace per my watch was 6:14.

Henri went off to do his long run (he’s really getting back into running and I LOVE it!) and I cooled-down on the race course to cheer on the rest of the ladies as they came it!

The post-race party was down on the beach which was so much fun. I foam rolled in the Muscle Milk tent, grabbed a bag full of snacks, and took in the beautiful view.

photo 1 (64) — Okay… and snapped one jumping picture!

Henri and I both took advantage of the freezing ocean water and ice bathed our tired/sore legs. This is Henri’s “don’t you dare drop your phone in the ocean” face… ha!At the awards ceremony I got to meet the lady that started the ZOOMA race series, she was really sweet – even if she did make me talk in the mic… sooooo embarrassing!That big poster I’m holding is a giant version of the course map! Most fun prize I’ve ever gotten, now just to figure out where I can display it! 😀

By this point Henri and I were both starving so we headed out to Persy’s Place for breakfast. I had scoped out the menu beforehand and knew exactly what I wanted…Chunky Chimp Pancakes – fluffy buttermilk pancakes with chocolate chips, walnuts and bananas mixed in!

Henri always goes more savory and got the California Breakfast Burrito.All accompanied by endless coffee… post race breakfasts are seriously the best!
We weren’t quite ready to leave the Cape just yet because the weather was amazing and Henri had never seen a lighthouse before so we drove to the Nobska Lighthouse in Falmouth to check it out.It wasn’t open to vistors going inside so we just looked at it, read about it’s history and walked about a mile along the beach.And once we got home I spent the rest of the evening like this…I had SUCH a great time at the ZOOMA race and loved that it was a race geared towards women! It was the perfect one day race-cation and I definitely plan on going back next year! I want to try the half-marathon course and spend the whole weekend there because it was just that much fun!!! 😀